Student suspected of spreading the “Harada virus”

Below:

Next story in Security

TOKYO — Police investigating a man for allegedly spreading a computer virus had to arrest him on a copyright infringement charge because Japan lacks laws against malicious computer programs, a police officer said Friday.

Masato Nakatsuji, 24, a graduate student at Osaka Electro-Communication University, is suspected of illegally copying and distributing over the Internet an image from the Japanese animation film "Clannad" showing a woman walking amid falling cherry blossoms.

But Nakatsuji also allegedly embedded the image in the "Harada virus," one of Japan's "Big Three" viruses, a Kyoto police officer said on the customary condition of anonymity.

Police said it was the first arrest in Japan involving making or spreading viruses.

Although computer viruses have wreaked havoc around the world for more than two decades, Japan has been slow to pass legislation to crack down on people who make and spread the potentially destructive programs.

In the latest case, police considered other charges, including damage to property and obstructing business, before deciding that copyright violation charges would hold up best in court, the officer said.

Nakatsuji, who is not suspected of creating the virus, was in police custody and not immediately available for comment. Police said he isn't contesting the charges.